AAPG Learn! Blog

Get your hands on the rocks in one of the world’s “Must Visit” geological sites. AAPG’s new field seminar will begin and end in Las Vegas, NV, and will be a road trip to Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim), Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Zion National Park. Dates: July 21-27, 2012. Interested? Read on and contact educate@aapg.org

Bryce Canyon "hoodoos"

Objectives of the seminar:
• Identify the geologic principles derived from early studies on the Colorado Plateau by J.W. Powell, G.K. Gilbert, and others. �
• Summarize the origin and history of the Proterozoic metamorphic complex of the Grand Canyon region and contrast these rocks with other western metamorphic terranes.
• Identify and analyze the depositional environments of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks of the Colorado Plateau, as exposed at each of the parks and landscapes in-between.
• Analyze and classify the faults and folds associated with Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonic activity, including the unique monoclines that define subprovinces within the plateau country.
• Assess and evaluate competing hypotheses concerning the erosional history of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.
• Analyze and assess of the history of land use on the Colorado Plateau from prehistoric time to the present, including water use, agriculture, and mineral/energy development.

A brief description of the content to be seen/covered, and a list of key topics to be addressed:

Historical Geology of the Colorado Plateau:

Proterozoic history (Frenchman Mountain, Kingman area and bottom of Grand Canyon) Paleozoic history (Ash Fork, Williams and Grand Canyon) Mesozoic history (Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Antelope Canyon, Zion and Bryce National Parks) Cenozoic history (Bryce Canyon National Park and Basin and Range Province near Las Vegas) Erosional history of the Grand Canyon (Grand Canyon and the Little Colorado River, Lees Ferry)

Cultural History and Archaeology: (Navajo Reservation, Zion National Park)

Who Should Attend: Geologists, educators and students of earth science who are interested in learning the geological history (as well as archaeological and natural history) of the Colorado Plateau as revealed at Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon National Parks.

How much does it cost? $2, 850 per person (includes lodging, van rental, fuel, park fees. Does not include food or optional over-flights).

Bio / Vitae: Garry Hayes has been a professor of geology at Modesto Junior College for 22 years, and has led his students on dozens of field studies classes in the Colorado Plateau, the Pacific Northwest, California, and Hawaii. He served as the president of the Far Western Section of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers from 2003-2008 and organized two conferences for the section (which included a series of field guides).